The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Monday forecast more rain for Mumbai, and sounded a yellow alert for the city and its neighbouring districts of Thane, Raigad and Palghar for Tuesday. According to the weather bureau, the city will start to experience light showers from Monday, which will intensify into thunderstorms coupled with gusty winds, and moderate showers on Tuesday.
For the Thane district, the yellow alert has been extended until Wednesday. Meteorologists have said that Mumbai will continue to experience light and thunderstorms, before dry weather sets in after Thursday.
Not only the Konkan region but also other regions of Maharashtra have been placed under a yellow alert over the coming days, with some districts in the Western Maharashtra region like Nashik, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, and Sangli, among others, placed under an ‘orange warning’.
Shubhangi Bhute, Director, IMD (Mumbai), said these are typical pre-monsoon showers, which have set in amid favourable conditions of early monsoon onset across other parts of the country.
“Currently, there is a low-level trough which is causing discontinuity and resulting in the change of wind patterns. It is noteworthy that the present conditions are favourable for the onset of monsoon in Andaman by May 13, while in Kerala, there is a possibility of monsoon onset by May 28. Therefore, what we are experiencing now can be regarded as pre-monsoon weather activity,” said Bhute.
Last week, the city was placed under a yellow alert for four consecutive days as intermittent spells of heavy showers and squally winds swept the region. In what made it the city’s wettest May since 2021, data showed that IMD’s Colaba station recorded 48.7 mm rain between Tuesday (May 6) and Friday (May 9), while the Santacruz station logged 38.4 mm rain during the same period. The unseasonal showers ushered in much respite from the heat levels as the minimum temperature dipped to 22.2 degree Celsius in Colaba – its coldest May day since 1951 – while the suburban station logged 20.6 degree Celsius on Thursday.
However, showers receded during the weekend, with the heat and humidity levels registering a jump. On Sunday, the maximum temperature soared to 34.6 degree Celsius at Santacruz while the Colaba coastal observatory recorded 33.2 degree Celsius on the mercury scale.
Typically, Mumbai experiences the onset of monsoon by June 11.
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